Consortium Dragoons
The '''Dragoons' are the Consortium's version of Terran Alliance Centurions and Valkyries, being elite infantry and shock troops used to spearhead advances and lock down opponents on a given field. Origins & History The dragoon forces originally began as Seirōkishi (Serene Knights), augmented Aetanii used as operatives to report on the doings in the galaxy during the Consortium's long tenure of isolation. They were reformed as a regular branch of the army upon the Consortium's decision to allow contact to take place again, and served with distinction throughout the Third War in Heaven, rightfully earning the respect of their allies with their sacrifices and fighting prowess. Naval Dragoons The Naval Dragoons are the branch of the dragoon regiments associated with the marines, as spearheads and stormtroopers for boarding operations against space stations and landings on contested moons and asteroids where the regular army cannot afford to send their own units. They are mainly distinguished from the regular dragoons by their black uniforms, reminiscent of the Arcanii intelligence service. Light Dragoons As the name surmises, the Light Dragoons are the scouting forces attached to dragoon regiments: carrying only the essentials and moving quickly and quietly, their purpose is to reconnoiter enemy positions while remaining unobserved, and when battle is joined to function as skirmishers, snipers, and light infantry while the regular army does the brunt of the fighting. They are distinguished from regular dragoons and the naval dragoons by the blue shoulder boards on their brown uniforms. Equipment Like most Aetanii infantry services, the dragoons did not wear much in the way of bulky armour protection: instead, they wore a flexible suit beneath their uniform that could resist ballistic and directed-energy impact as well as stabs and cuts from close-quarters weapons. As the Aetanii were by and large immune to chemical warfare and their extremely durable bodies could withstand zero-G and zero-pressure environments for several minutes, other parts of protection were also seen as unnecessary: helmets were provided, but these were more along the lines of traditional steel caps rather than fully enclosing the head. The vast majority of the dragoons used the S&G-manufactured Aetanii dragoon rifle, a single-shot bolt action Gauss weapon with an internal box magazine capable of holding ten rounds at once. While at first glance unassuming, and in the eyes of some downright primitive, the high velocity nature of this weapon - nicknamed "Azunyan" - aided by its extremely deadly projectiles meant that it was capable of punching even through starship hull armour at short range- to say nothing of most interstellar nations and their bulky but ultimately thin body armour. Transport Consortium dragoons use a variety of means to reach and traverse the battlefield, and in their role as infantry and also as cavalry they required a fast, lightly protected method of transportation: this would enable them to standardize where practicable for ease of logistics, removing some of the burden on their supply chains. The answer was the Kaijiya Ki-11 high-speed mistrunner, typically referred to as a hoverbike by other services: the bike, not much larger or different bodywise than a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Hayabusa Suzuki Hayabusa], hovers half a metre off the ground at full speed and can exceed 2500 km/h (Mach 2) handily while running flat out. This allows dragoons a fast, efficient method of traversing combat zones to where they need to be - aside from that, the hoverbike is popular with many Aetanii as a sporting instrument.Category:Aetanii Category:Infantry Category:Mechanized Infantry